12 Things Strong Women Do When They’re Confronted With A Challenge
At the end of the day, they’re the ones who have to live with their choices, so they make choices they can stand behind.
By 
Heidi Priebe
SPONSORED
We all know (and envy) that one woman who refuses to let life push her around. In the case of ABC’s new show Quantico, that woman is Alex Parrish – an FBI trainee who isn’t afraid of a challenge. In celebration of Quantico’s premiere, we’re doing an ongoing series on Thought Catalog – “The New Rules of Badass Women,” beginning with a list of 12 things women like Alex do differently when they’re confronted with a challenge. Needless to say, backing down isn’t one of them.
1. They don’t worry about who they’re impressing–they’re too busy getting things done. At the end of the day, they’re the ones who have to live with their choices, so they make choices they can stand behind. And they’re more interested in proving themselves right than proving others wrong.
2. They anticipate problems and rise to meet them with enthusiasm…because they know that nothing worth having comes easy. In the words of Alfred Montapert, they “expect problems and eat them for breakfast.”
3. They separate the real problems from the petty drama. You won’t find a badass woman hiding behind a corner because she ran into someone she went on one awkward date with. True bosses live by the rule that if it’s not a serious issue, it’s not an issue at all.
4. They acknowledge their weaknesses in order to work around them. They know that nobody’s perfect, but that the only thing more powerful than a seemingly perfect person is a person who has nothing to hide.
5. They tell it like it is, wasting no time on passive aggression or wishy-washy suggestions. If they have an opinion about something, you’ll know.
6. They aren’t afraid to work for what they want, even when that work is unappealing, unglamorous, or just plain dull. In the effort to get the job done, they will roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty.
7. They take care of themselves first and foremost. Knowing that they can’t go full-speed on an empty fuel tank, they pay attention to their own energy levels and don’t feel guilty about taking time to recharge.
8. They fail intelligently. Rather than moping over what has gone wrong, they analyze what led them to the failure in the first place and focus on not repeating the same mistakes in the future.
9. They aren’t afraid to ask for help when they need it. It’s always the women who are the most confident in their own abilities who are the least ashamed of asking for help. They know that nobody succeeds in a vacuum, and that in order to achieve the best results, they may need some help. It’s no big deal – after all, they’d jump at the chance to help out a friend in need.
10. They make room for emotion. The strongest women don’t deny their emotional depth – they acknowledge and appreciate it. They know that no challenge presents itself without some emotional upset and they don’t beat themselves up over those emotions. They simply deal with them as they come, all while keeping one eye on the task at hand.
11. Instead of hoping for good fortune, they make their own luck. They know that if they sit around and wait for the perfect situation to fall into their laps, they’ll be waiting the rest of their lives. They go after success rather than letting it come to them and as a result, they collect it in abundance.
12. They rise to the occasion. Strong women know that there’s a world of difference between the sentence, “I can’t do that,” and the sentence, “I can’t do that yet.” When they’re up against a task they don’t feel completely prepared for, they don’t let that deter them from taking it on. They’re confident in their ability to rise to the challenge at hand – and it’s that same confidence that consistently allows them to meet it. 
